The Shadow Must Die
by Joy Goldenpine
Summary: The Light and the Shadow have been engaged in a battle for as long as the universe has existed. One fateful night, the Shadow locks itself in the body of a human. Now the Light has to kill the human to end their battle. However, he cannot touch Kuroko Tetsuya, so long as he stays human...
1. Chapter 1

A dark shadowy figure fell fast from the sky, unseen by anyone except the opponent who had knocked him from place in the night. The figure pushed himself up from the shingles of the Japanese roof he'd fallen on and floated into the sky wearily. The Shadow was insubstantial, so there was no damage in the roof.

Then like a star, the Shadow's opposite smashed onto the spot on the roof the Shadow had just floated off of. Bright like a star and just as magnificent, the Light's wispy humanoid figure raised its hands as bluish white particles gathered around the figure. Panicked, the Shadow lifted its arms over its head and deflected the attack in a shower of sparks. The Light shot out and caught the Shadow in its hands, pounding mercilessly into the figure so that when they crashed to the ground, the shadow's figure had fallen apart into wisps of smoke.

"Rid the world of darkness," the Light's ethereal voice boomed as the Shadow hurriedly tried to put his body back together enough to put up a defense. "Purge the Earth of evil…" The Light slapped it's hands together and pulled them apart, revealing a long saber that the Shadow recoiled at. "Destroy the Shadow!"

The Shadow grabbed at the shadow cast by the house and narrowly missed the saber's pointed end. It crept along the edge of the darkness, it's body reforming, and almost stepped out to fight again when suddenly the front door of the house slid open. Startled, the Shadow whipped around and found himself staring at a little human boy, his eyes staring blearily at the Shadow.

"Hello mister," the boy said, yawning. "Are you making all that noise?"

The words of the boy took a moment to sink in. How could the boy hear, much more _see_ , the Shadow? It was invisible to people, invisible to everything! A flash of light shook the Shadow out of its stupor and it was again reminded of its fight. The Light was walking towards the Shadow and then it too saw the boy. It inclined its head curiously at the boy, but didn't allow the Shadow out of its spot.

"Hello sir," the boy said, his voice sharper and slightly wary. "Why are at my house?"

The Light stumbled backwards, surprised and fearful. The Shadow took advantage of the Light's moment of hesitation and launched itself at the Light, knocking it to the ground.

"Get out of here, boy!" the Shadow snarled, grabbing the saber and wrestled it to the Light's side. "You aren't safe, so long as you can see me!"

"Please don't fight," the boy begged, taking a step out of the safety of his house. "I don't like it."

"I said get out of here!" the Shadow screamed before the Light smashed it in its chest. The Shadow was knocked backwards into the boy, passing through the solid body like a ghost.

"If the child will not go," the Light growled, lifting its saber once more. "If he will ally with the Shadow…"

"NO!" the Shadow screamed and shot up in front of the boy. "You will not touch the human! You cannot!"

"Oh," the Light scoffed, raising the saber still higher. "I can."

Confused, the Shadow looked round for the boy but found that he was no longer there. Cold realization washed over the Shadow as he looked down at his hands to find flesh and blood covering them. A heart beat in his chest and his body felt heavy and sluggish.

"You wouldn't…" the Shadow breathed, backing up in his new form. "I...you wouldn't kill the boy…"

"Rid the world of darkness…" the Light chanted, bringing the saber down on the Shadow and the boy. Pain shot through the boy's body, thousands of lightning bolts choking the Shadow. "Purge the world of evil...Destroy the Shadow….The boy has accepted you. He is now the Shadow." Through the eyes of the boy, the Shadow watched the Light bring its saber up and braced itself for death.

* * *

Somehow, I had managed to separated myself from my team. I wasn't necessarily lost, since I knew that I had to go to one of those big gyms and that the names of the teams playing inside would be shown outside. Even so, I hastened to find that building. We had a game in a few minutes, and the coach wouldn't hesitate to kill me, as she had demonstrated on multiple occasions before.

Eventually, I found the building with my team's name listed out front. According to the board, there would be a second game beside us, Rakuzan against Kirisaki Daiichi. I swallowed uneasily. What a scary match to be playing next to; the emperor against one of the Uncrowned Kings, and the especially violent one at that. I had no doubt that Akashi-kun could defeat them, what with the other three Uncrowned Kings playing with a Generation of Miracle's memeber, but there was no guaranteeing their physical well-being by the end. A flame of anger lashed out inside me, making my stomach burn unpleasantly.

 _We could destroy him._

"Oh, hush," I sighed and entered the building. Now was not the time to get angry, especially not with my next opponent looming in the next game. My only hope was that he wasn't some place sleeping.

I turned the corner and was pleasantly surprised to find my opponent's ace leaning against the wall, seemingly preparing himself mentally for the game. He didn't notice me, like always, so I tapped him on the shoulder and received the usual shock and outcry reaction.

"Tetsu!" Aomine-kun moaned. "I didn't see you there."

"I am very hard to miss," I responded automatically. "We should get going soon. Our match is only in a few minutes."

"I know, I know," Aomine-kun said airily and grinned. "Is Kagami going full out from the get-go?"

"I wouldn't tell you, even if I knew, Aomine-kun," I sighed. "That would make the match too easy for us to win."

"You little bastard," Aomine-kun laughed, poking me in the side. "I hope you're being cocky for a good reason. I'd be very disappointed with you, if you didn't have another trump card hidden up your sleeve. Misdirection's not going to work on us now."

"I'd be very disappointed in myself as well," I said. "I feel insulted, that you think I wouldn't have something prepared."

"Besides that, what do you think about the match beside us?" Aomine-kun said, jerking his head to the left. I looked over to where he was gesturing and just saw the foot of a white sneaker and a flash of red pass by. "That's a power house right there."

"Kirisaki Daiichi isn't a force to be reckoned with," I said evenly, bitterness seeping into my head as the memory of Kiyoshi-senpai falling to the ground with a head injury resurfaced. "Even without the dirty methods, their players are strong."

"Yeah, I guess so," Aomine-kun grunted as he pushed off the wall. "Well, I'd better get going. See ya on the court, Tetsu!"

"I'll be waiting," I said and watched my former light jog off for the locker room. The bitter memory wouldn't calm down, dripping down into my chest and contracting painfully. Flames of anger whipped around, not helping my composure at all. I pressed my head against the cold wall to try and subdue the emotions, but found it only made my head more messed up. Sighing, I set off for the locker rooms, panic kicking in as I was most likely very late.

"You're late, Kuroko-kun!" Coach roared at me as I stepped into the locker room. I bowed apologetically, bracing myself for the punishment that was sure to come. All around me, everyone else was already in uniform. Guilt joined the mingling emotions and I began to seriously worry about my performance in the game against Toou.

"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I got lost."

"I want to hit you," Coach said, putting her hands on her hips menacingly. "But our game is in a few minutes, so I don't have time. Get dressed quickly and I'll discipline you properly later!"

"Hai!" I nearly ran to the bench and slammed my bag down, tearing my shirt off and slipping into my jersey. The team left the locker room, leaving me to change in peace.

 _We could hurt them._

"We're not playing against Kirisaki Daiichi," I muttered, jumping into my basketball shorts. "We're playing against Aomine-kun."

 _He hurt you._

"It's all in the past," I said, jamming my bag into an empty locker. "And remember, the last time we hurt someone..." I fell silent, unable to face the horrible memory of the little kids screaming in fear, running in fear, dying... "We're playing basketball. We're playing basketball with our friends."

I became aware of how crazy I would've sounded to anyone who happened happened to walk into the locker room. I closed the locker and ran out of the room, not seeing anything clearly. I wished I had more time to calm the Shadow down. Walking straight into a game with it riled up...what would happen then?

"Alright, now that Kuroko-kun is here..." I came in and sat next to Kagami-kun, the Coach glaring at me with an evil eye. "...we can discuss our strategy. They've lost Imayoshi-kun and we've lost Kiyoshi, so there are great differences in our strength compared to our last match. Kuroko-kun..." I flinched instinctively but found that she was merely addressing me. "You are at a huge disadvantage, now that your misdirection doesn't work on Toou."

"I think what I created in lieu of my misdirection should work," I said confidently. "However, the time it lasts will be shorter, as I'm not accustomed to the methods needed in this form of misdirection."

"Alright then." Coach then turned to Kagami-kun. "We're relying on you, Kagami-kun!"

"Of course!" Kagami-kun grinned. Aomine-kun had asked whether or not Kagami-kun would be going all out from the beginning. I laughed to myself; of course he would. This was Kagami Taiga.

This was Seirin's basketball club.

"Ready? FIGHT!"

"OOOOHH!"

As we lined up, I spotted the Rakuzan-Kirisaki Daiichi game that had just started next to our court. Akashi-kun passed to Mibuchi who sank a three with his usual light touch. As expected nothing to worry about with Akashi-kun. I turned my focus back to the game. I didn't need any distractions. The whistle sounded and Mitobe-senpai tapped the ball to Izuki-senpai. The game started, both teams shooting off for the basket. I slipped through the players and found an open pass route towards Kagami-kun. The ball came shooting towards me and with a wave of my arm, I directed it towards Kagami-kun.

"Nice pass, Kuroko!" Kagami-kun shouted before jumping up for a dunk. With a shrill _beep!_ we scored the first basket of the game.

"YES!" the team shouted as Sakurai took the ball for the throw-in. I started running in the opposite direction, not planning on stealing the ball, when my line of sight fell again on the match taking place beside us.

Hanamiya was in possession of the ball with Akashi-kun marking him. Hanamiya stopped and looked around for a pass route. Strangely, some of his teammates were drawing near to him, blocking either side of Akashi-kun. Unnerved, Akashi-kun went for a steal and time seemed to freeze as

Hanamiya's elbow

came crashing

into the side

of Akashi-kun's head.

* * *

 _I had never been so angry in my life._

 _Two kids from the day care had pushed me to the ground, laughing as they emptied out my backpack and kicking me if I tried to get back up._

 _"You're not going anywhere, you freak," one kid jeered. "I hear you talking to yourself in class. And you're practically invisible! You must be such a disappointment to your parents, being such an invisible freak like you."_

 ** _Let me hurt them_**

 _I glanced around and saw the distorted figures of the boys through my tears. A strange empty feeling was spreading though my body and the corners of my eyes were going blurry with anger._

 _"Aww, is the little freak going to cry?" the other kid sneered and kicked me in the stomach. "C'mon, freak. Let's see you cry!"_

 ** _Let me hurt them for you_**

 ** _Stop repressing me_**

 ** _You know they deserve it_**

 ** _You know they do_**

 _I crawled to my knees, my conscious fading away. As the bullies aimed another kick at me, the Shadow's control took over my hand and caught the foot. Overwhelming strength flooded into my hand and the Shadow squeezed the foot until an ugly CRACK sounded and the bully's scream of pain pierced the air. It was a strange feeling, standing up and walking not of my own accord. I closed my eyes._

 ** _"_ DIE." **

* * *

"Oi, Kuroko!"

A voice sounded behind me, angry and confused. I couldn't look away from the unconscious form of Akashi-kun laying on the ground

a trickle of blood coming from the side of his head...

"Kuroko, what the heck are you doing? You're just standing there!"

 ** _They deserve to die_**

"Kuroko!"

 ** _Die..._**

 ** _Die..._**

 ** _Die..._**

"...Kuroko-?"

 **"They deserve to die."**

It was a strange feeling to be walking off of the court onto the next one, my feet moving without my conscious consent. But it felt good to have that power surge up in me, engulfing me like fire. Even stranger yet was that I was still conscious in my body, just not in control of it. I was aware of voices calling out to me from behind, but I didn't care. All I could see was Hanamiya Makoto and Akashi-kun's figure on the floor.

"What are you doing here-? What the hell is wrong with you?! Get away from me!"

 _ **Doesn't it feel good?**_

My hands shot out for Hanamiya Makoto's throat and closed around it.

 **Die**

 **Die**

 **Die.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey look, an author's note!**

 **So I started this fic because my stupid mind thought it'd be a good idea and then someone encouraged me to write it out so I did. I just sort of thought it would be a LOL fic that would get no support but then BOOM! four reviews in two days and seven follows. Thanks to everyone who** **supported me!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _"Sorry, Tetsuya. I got too carried away."_

My body felt sluggish and heavy, like every one of my limbs were made of lead. I opened my eyes and found my eyesight blurry with fatigue. Lights shone above me and all I could see was white, making my heart race for some reason. The smell of antiseptic told me that I was in the hospital wing of...the InterHigh stadium.

The InterHigh!

I sat up sharply, making the room around me spin alarmingly. Nausea hit me like a storm and I grabbed the sheets of the bed I lay in to keep from vomiting. Memories swirled around me head, not allowing me to deny them. My hands...I looked down at them; they were raw and pink and stung like crazy. These hands had just tried to kill someone. Vile rose up out of my mouth and onto the sheets. I tore them off. No one had bothered to change me into my normal clothes, so I still wore my jersey, making the air feel ten times colder than it should have. I wondered how my team had reacted when they watched me ditch the game and attempt to strangle Hanamiya. Guilt and shame settled into my already burdened head. Where were they now?

I looked around the hospital wing and realized I was not alone. In one bed lay an unconscious Hanamiya, his neck bandaged up. In the other bed a smaller figure was sitting up, staring at me.

"Kuroko?" Akashi-kun asked tentatively.

"Akashi-kun!" I gasped and scrambled out of bed. "Are you okay?"

"Kuroko...you tried to strangle someone."

"I…" I stopped dead in my tracks. Akashi-kun's head had been wrapped in bandages, covering one of his eyes and giving him a rather ragged look. "But...he tried-"

"I'm not trying to accuse you of anything," Akashi-kun said evenly. "I don't know a lot of things about my friends, but I know that Kuroko Tetsuya wouldn't try to kill someone, even if they hurt me or anyone else. Kuroko…" Akashi-kun looked dead into my eyes with his red slitted pupil eye. "Who are you?"

"I…" I stammered again. "I...I don't…"

"Kuroko, what are you doing out of bed?"

I nearly screamed as a hand clamped down on my shoulder, large masculine fingers digging into my skin. I turned around and saw a man I'd never seen before. He was tall and lean, his hair starting to turn grey and his face gaunt and stretched with a fake smile. Just looking at the man made me feel uneasy, like something in his cold grey eyes would jump out and attack me.

"Um...I'm sorry, who are you?" I asked, trying to calm down. My hands were shaking, something that only happened before a basketball game. I far too riled up and on edge. Something wasn't right.

"My name is Shi Karito," the man said, maintaining his false smile. "I am the coach of Kirisaki Daiichi."

"Oh...oh!" I looked around at Hanamiya and bowed in apology. "I'm sorry that I tried to injure your player…"

 ** _Even though he injures other people without provocation._**

"...during the game," I finished, biting back a retort to the voice in my head. I had gotten so into the habit of replying to the Shadow out loud that I could no longer fight my own conscious in my head.

"Oh, not at all," Shi said, waving his hand. "The boy is always injuring other players with provocation, he got what he deserved."

I stared at Shi incredulously. Was this man seriously just waving off the injury of his player so indifferently? Behind me, Akashi-kun cleared his throat. From the way he inhaled, I could tell that he too was feeling angry.

"Do you need Kuroko?" Akashi-kun asked. "If so, please hurry up. I want to talk to him."

Akashi-kun was showing disrespect to an elder. My unease for this man increased tenfold. Shi laughed and tightened his grip on my shoulder, making me cringe in pain.

"I'll just take him for a second," Shi said and then steered me towards the door. I glanced back at Akashi-kun helplessly and he returned the look, his eyebrows knitted together. I just hoped that Shi would finish quickly. At the moment, I needed rational moral support that only Akashi-kun could provide.

Shi led me down the hallway and deeper into the gymnasium, his hand guiding me through the maze of halls and corridors. It occurred to me that I had not seen my team ever since the game. I figured they would have been there when I woke up. A horrible thought struck me: What if they were scared of me?

 _I'm sorry, Tetsuya._

"I suppose you're wondering what it is I want to discuss with you, Kuroko," Shi said conversationally, although his voice was unmistakably cool. Further and further into the gym we walked, a silence blooming between us as I refused to respond. Even though I didn't know this man at all, I'd observed enough of the man to not trust him. We reached a hallway with no one in sight. I only just registered the fact that the end of the hall was a dead-end when Shi slammed me into the wall by my shoulder, pain shooting into my arm. I felt it go limp. "Well, it just so happens that I have a bit of a knowledge of your past. Specifically, little acts of violence that wouldn't sound too far off from the little scene you've just caused."

Panic flared in my stomach. Shi's steely grey eyes bored into my skin as I refused to meet the man's eyes. How did he know? No one knew, the Shadow had made sure of that.

"The earliest scene that I can recall is a little incident that happened in the courtyard in front of Sakura primary school?" Shi went on. My hand was starting to hurt; I was digging my nails into my palm to keep the memory from coming up. A second hand came clamping down on my other shoulder. If I tried to run, Shi would be holding me down. Panic flared in me. "Two little boys had their throats mutilated by a little boy they had been bullying. A little boy who had a habit of talking to himself, as if there were someone _listening to him..._ "

 _Tetsuya, this man is...!_

 **"Get off of me!"** I screamed and tore out of Shi's grip, his grip tearing the sleeves of my jersey. The fabric of my jersey fluttered to the ground, a hot liquid trickling down my shoulders. Blood splattered on the ground, echoing unnaturally loud in the empty hallway. The arm that Shi had dislocated swung around stupidly. I grabbed it with my other hand and squeezed it tightly. My breathing had become shallow and erratic, my heartbeat following accordingly.

"What are you doing?!" I gasped, pain choking my throat. Shi looked down at his hands which were stained with my blood at the fingertips. He put his middle finger between his teeth and licked the blood off, making a disgustingly horrified face.

"I can just taste the Shadow in your blood, human child." Shi's voice came out as an ethereal hiss. The man began to advance on me, a white opaque mist rising up off of his body.

 _ **The Light! The Light is possessing his body!**_

"Seems like you've figured it out," the Light snarled. "Stupid boy. You let your emotions get the best of you. If you could have suppressed the Shadow's power, I may have let you live until the end of you short insignificant life. However..." The Light clapped the man's hands together and pulled them apart, revealing a long thin saber. A saber whose glow was all too familiar. I started to back up, wanting to keep as much distance between me and the point as possible. The pain of having the saber pierce my body had been burned into my memory, something that would never just disappear. "The Shadow is starting to take over."

The back of my foot scraped the wall at the end of the hallway. Cornered, I watched in horror as the saber was lifted up above the Light's head.

 _ **Tetsuya!**_

* * *

Anger. I needed Tetsuya's powerful anger. He managed to sidestep the first attack, the blade of the saber grazing his bare human skin. At this rate, we were going to be killed.

Anger. Tetsuya needed to betray his natural behavior and become angry.

I delved into Tetsuya's memory bank, searching for a particularly invigorating memory. I could feel the boy's fear and panic seize his mind and body, rendering him useless to defend himself or use my power.

Anger

Anger

Anger

 _The game against Kirisaki Daiichi. Hanamiya Makoto raised the ball above his head and swung it downwards with every intent of hitting Tetsuya. I wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him. Injuring out teammates, trying to injure us, trying to steal our spot in the Winter Cup..._

Tetsuya kept refusing the emotion, instead trying to drain himself of any emotion. The boy, bless him for it, was too controlled and calm for his own good. Just as his friend Kagami had pointed out...

 _"In the face of overwhelming odds, just working together won't be enough."_

"NO!" Tetsuya screamed and narrowly dodged the blade again. Sadness and rejection took place of the fear and panic, just enough for me to take control of one arm and grab a hold of the Light's host's arm and twist it backwards. A sickening 'snap!' shook the bone jarred Tetsuya back into reality, taking the control of his arm from me. The Light stumbled, watching the broken arm flop uselessly to his side.

"This body fails me," the Light muttered. With one swift motion, he tore the man's arm out, taking the sleeve with it and leaving a bloody hole where the shoulder should have been. Nausea rose up in Tetsuya's body as blood spurted from the open shoulder, the joint jutting out from the torn skin and fabric. "Now it will look like the little deranged basketball player from Seirin went on a second rampage today and killed Shi Karito by tearing his arm off. "How's that?" The Light tossed the amputated arm at Tetsuya's feet. Vile rose out of Tetsuya's mouth, burning in his throat.

"Monster..." Tetsuya gasped, wiping the vile from the corner of his mouth.

"How can you call me a monster, you demon?" the Light hissed. "You disgust me, you human that allows the Shadow to cling to himself. And you don't even lift a finger to protect yourself!" A flash of light and Tetsuya is knocked to the ground. Spasms of pain grip his legs as he looks down to find stumps where his feet had just previously been. Nothing was left in Tetsuya's stomach to throw up, so instead he screamed, his soft calm voice contorted so terribly into the expression of terror.

"My feet..." Tetsuya moaned. "My feet..."

The Light used the man's foot and kicked Tetsuya against the wall, staring down at us with a murderously triumphant air. He rested the point of the saber on Tetsuya's heaving chest and pushed in slightly, making blood appear on the smooth white skin.

"What do you think, boy?" the Light cooed, twisting the point of the blade, making Tetsuya gasp in pain. "Do you think I'll be able to kill you this time around? Or will it fail again? Will I have to wait for you to bleed yourself to death in order to pull the Shadow from your corpse? I don't have that kind of patience to find out."

My scream mingled with Tetsuya's as the saber was thrust through Tetsuya's chest. The power of the Light surged through the saber and curled around me, cutting off any power I had inside Tetsuya's being. Through Tetsuya's fading vision, I saw the Light's twisted smile, mocking Tetsuya's pain.

 ** _Anger_**

 ** _Pain_**

 ** _Anger_**

 ** _Anger_**

 ** _Death_**

 ** _Death_**

 ** _Death..._**

"Kuroko?!"

* * *

Through my fading vision, I saw the blurry outlines of a crowd of people. Somewhere in my fading mind, I recognized the voice that had called out to me. Someone...someone who had been very close to me...my light...my wonderful friend, nothing like the being that possessed the poor man in front of me...my wonderful light...

"Ka-gami...kun-"

"You insignificant human!" the Light screamed, stabbing the hole with a frenzied air about him. "Die! Die already! Let go of the damn Shadow-!"

"Get away from him, you insane bastard!" The sound of skin on bone boomed out in front of me, made ten times louder by my failing hearing. A blur of bloody redness hovered in front of me, joined shortly by another smear of red, pinker in hue and smaller. Akashi-kun...

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh..." Kagami-kun breathed. The blade was gone from my chest having dis-materialized once separated from the Light. "What the hell...your feet, Kuroko..."

"You're not dying," Akashi-kun said frantically. Even in my befuddled state, I registered the panic and fear in his voice. Since when had Akashi-kun ever been panicked? "You're not dying...you're going to be okay, Kuroko..."

Behind the blurs that were my friends, a large dark figure walked up behind them.

"Be...hind-you..."

Barely a second after my warning, Kagami-kun and Akashi-kun were kicked aside by the Light, landing with heavy crashes on the floor. My friends...

 _ **My...friends...**_

"I will kill you..." the Light said, swaying unstably on his feet. "I will...kill you...And no one...will get in my way..." With his one hand, the Light pointed to the red blurs on the ground a few feet away. "I'll kill anyone...who does...even them, your _lights..._ "

 _ **You will not...you will not lay a single finger on any of my friends...**_

A strong surge of power jolted through my body, making my vision clear so suddenly, the outlines of the old man's body were shiny with color. My body no longer felt weak, rather stronger and better than it had ever been in my life.

 ** _"Kill my friends...?"_**

I lunged out at the Light's legs, knocking the body down. Power. Power coursed through my veins, filling me with an overwhelming urge to let _someone_ know exactly how I was feeling, exactly how I wanted to kill them...

...because no one, _no one_ , was going to kill my friends before I killed them first.

* * *

 **I forgot how good it feels to write supernatural! Man, it feels really good to take a break from writing angst and all that crap that really takes a toll on your emotional stability.**

 **Anyway, I hope the format isn't _too_ confusing. If you haven't figure it out, it's most likely due to my incapability to make it more clear. I'll try to make it obvious who's talking and whose POV the story is currently being told from. If there are any problems, please let me know and I will try to clean up my writing for your reading convenience. **

**Hopefully the story is keeping you guys intrigued! I have no idea how long this will be, but I'm definitely continuing this!**

 **-Joy Goldenpine**


	3. Chapter 3

**Because of lack of writing skill, there shall be a crap ton of dialogue in this chapter. It will also be very long for said reason.**

 **You have been warned.**

* * *

 _That wasn't Kuroko._

We were on the offense, blood pumping through my veins. I was so hyped up, so I lead my team on the offense, searching left and right for my partner. The moment I realized he wasn't running beside me was the moment I knew something was wrong.

After a quick scan of the court, I saw Kuroko just standing there, his posture all slumped over with no fight or desire to play in him. I frowned and jogged over to him, stifling the urge to strangle him. If this was another one of his weird quirks, I was going to kill him after we won.

"Oi, Kuroko! Kuroko, you're just standing there, the other team scored!"

I grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him aggressively. He simply stared, not paying any attention to me. I glanced in the direction he was staring at and a sickening feeling sunk into my stomach. I must've realized it, but hadn't paid much attention to it before. Hanamiya was playing against Akashi, two monsters, one of which, had a disgusting habit for injuring players, especially strong players like Kiyoshi-senpai and Kuroko.

And Akashi.

I flinched as the ball smashed into the side of the emperor's head, bringing the teen with a stature close to Kuroko's down to the ground unconscious. Part of me wanted to storm over to the other court and play the game for Rakuzan. I just couldn't beat the shit out of Hanamiya anymore, simply seeing how Kuroko reacted to Hanamiya injuring our players said something about the level of my maturity. Reluctantly, I started to turn back towards the game when I realized again I still didn't have Kuroko with me.

"Kuroko...?"

I stared in amazement and horror as my partner stormed off the court, burn across the other and stop in front of Hanamiya. By now, I wasn't the only one who had realized Kuroko's odd behavior; Hyuuga-senpai came up next to me, his eyebrows scrunched together questioningly. Even the crowd was murmuring uneasily at the player who had crossed matches.

Then the strangling started.

My entire body was rendered useless as I watched my best friend's tiny calloused hands choke the life out of Hanamiya, a nasty color rising in the third-year's normally pallid complexion. A referee came running in, screaming bloody murder and attempting to pry Kuroko's hands off Hanamiya but the referee recoiled, horror plainly visible on his face.

"Kuroko!" I screamed and sprinted off the court, grabbing the phantom around the waist and jerking him away. Relief washed over me as Kuroko's hands fell slack but disconcertment quickly spilled in as his entire body became limp in my arms, nearly dragging me to the ground. I spun Kuroko around, anger and confusion bursting from my mouth but it died in my mouth; Kuroko was unconscious.

"Oi, oi!" Kotaro slammed his fist into my shoulder, his expression scared. Behind him Mibuchi and Nebuya were crouched beside Akashi, trying to stem a trickle of blood dripping from the side of his head and casting frightened glances at the limp body in my hands. Part of me wanted to yell in Kuroko's defense, but the other part of me was also scared witless of Kuroko and it was only out of obligation of our friendship that I kept him up. "What the hell was that?"

"I-" Words failed me. Even I had no idea. Kuroko was the one who told me to calm down, told me not to lash out of anger. Yet here he was, unconscious from the effort to strangle a player...

...unconscious?

"I have no idea," I said shortly. There was no room for me to spare courtesy to Kotaro. It was something I did consciously, and my conscious was scattered and broken. "Just...get a doctor or something!"

"That won't be necessary."

An unfamiliar voice sounded behind me as a cold hand gripped my shoulder. A chill ran down my back and I instinctively jumped back, holding Kuroko tightly. A tall lean man stood in midst of the players, standing out in his neat suit among the uniform clad teens. He shook his dusty white hair and his thin lips stretched in a mock smile.

"I am the coach of Kirisaki Daiichi, Shi Karito," the man said, bowing slightly in my direction. I was briefly reminded of Kuroko's own overly polite behavior before I took notice of Shi's cold manner. Kuroko was never cold towards anyone, even his opponents. Angry, yes, but never cold. "As it is my player that Kuroko Tetsuya has injured, I will take charge of what happens to the boy."

"Wha-? How do you know his name?" I demanded, automatically taking a disliking to the man and leaning away slightly, trying to put as much distance between the man and Kuroko.

"Why, haven't we played before?" Shi's smile grew into an evil grimace. "Remember?"

Something about that statement made me go speechless. Of course I remembered. This man's team had single-handedly injured nearly half of my team. Indignity took hold of me and all I could do was glare at the man's ugly wrinkled face.

"So I'll be taking the boy," Shi said and suddenly, I found my arms burden-free. Shi hoisted Kuroko into his arms and mocked me with his eyes. "Oh don't worry. I'm taking him to the hospital wing along with the other boys."

"Oi!" I yelled. "You can't just do that-!"

"Oh, Kagami Taiga, you stupid, stupid little light," Shi laughed and for a second, I swear his eyes burned white and Kuroko's body was engulfed by black flames. "There are a lot of things I can do that you don't know of."

* * *

Kuroko's, Akashi's, and Hanamiya's injuries did nothing to postpone the on-going games. The three players were merely substituted for other ones and the games continued. Stupidly enough, since no normal person can play a game after two players left the court to interfere with the next-over game. I mean, maybe Akashi and Kuroko could manage, but since they were lying in the hospital wing...

However, I wasn't sticking around to play the game. It was pretty pathetic, everyone was performing their best moves terribly and their terrible moves horribly. The first quarter ended with little movement in the score and the crowd extremely restless; some even left. Once the buzzer sounded, I approached Coach. I didn't even have to open my mouth.

"Go," she said, her mouth turned down in a worried frown. "This game's a lost cause, I see no point in doing it anymore. We're not playing our best and our opponent isn't playing their best. Let the others rest here and go check on Kuroko-kun...and if he's up to it..."

"...ask him what the fuck he was doing," I finished and Coach nodded. "Right."

I threw on my jacket and jogged out of the court. The empty hallway put an accent on my raging thoughts, not allowing any room for a rational thought. I felt like a part of my identity had died with my image of Kuroko. He was epitome of calm and peace. Not

raging

anger

hatred

murderous urges.

"I hate you so much right now, you idiot," I moaned under my breath.

"Hope that idiot's not me."

I turned around and found Aomine and Momoi following me quickly. A perplexing feeling of relief came with their appearance. Here was the one thing I could seriously count on: Aomine's idiocy and Momoi's love for Kuroko. Steadfast and never changing, especially in the case of Aomine.

"You come to yell at Kuroko too?" I joked feebly. A leaden weight seemed to have taken lodging in my stomach, making me incapable of humor. Aomine just shrugged, but I noticed that his normally dark skin had taken on a paler hue. So had Momoi.

"I've never seen Tetsu-kun get so mad," Momoi said breathlessly. "He's always so...calm! Except..."

"When have you ever seen Tetsu get mad?" Aomine asked incredulously.

"...Not mad, necessarily," Momoi said, her voice considerably smaller. "Just sad...and broken. He really broke that one time..."

"When did all this happen?!" Aomine burst out. "I've seen Tetsu panicked, but never broken!"

I joined Momoi in glaring down the ganguro. I would've paid fate fifty bucks to make it Too that had been the one playing next to us. Then maybe Kuroko could have given the deserved strangling. I'd do it, but the revengeful justice really belonged to Kuroko.

But I didn't want to see him get angry again. Not Kuroko.

I practically kicked the door down in my haste to see Kuroko, but to my utter confusion he wasn't anywhere. One of the beds had the signs of someone recently getting out of the sheets, signaling that Kuroko had been here. Did he go back to the game? Then I spotted Akashi in the corner, fully awake and extremely alert at that. I must've mistaken his limp form for unconsciousness. The injury was no joke, though. One side of his head was completely swathed in bandages and a red spot was already forming on the white cloth.

"If you're looking for Kuroko, Kirisaki Daiichi's coach just took him out to tell him something," Akashi said, his one visible eyebrow scrunched together. "To be honest, I didn't like the look of that man."

"How long have they been gone?" I asked, dread slowly creeping into my stomach.

"Not very long," Akashi said. "They brought us in, the coach staying behind. I presumed he was keeping an eye on his player, but Kuroko awoke quickly, merely a few minutes after we had been brought in. Then Shi took him out to tell him something."

"I don't like that man," I muttered boldly. "He reminds me of Haizaki. Just this presence of evil or something."

"I agree," Akashi said. I was taken aback, not only with how Akashi agreed with me...no, only because Akashi agreed with me. "Even though they haven't been gone for a tremendous amount of time, it seems like a coach should be as aware as anyone that a player should be resting after falling unconscious. Even if...that player tried to strangle the coach's player."

"We gotta go find Kuroko," I said and pivoted on my heel back towards the door. I needed to talk to Kuroko and reestablish the part of my mind that depended heavily on him. And he was with Shi, a looming obstacle and a man I didn't trust at all. "Akashi..."

"Or course I'm coming," Akashi said and leapt from the bed. He swayed dangerously for a moment, holding his wound tightly before regaining balance and striding confidently towards me. "You may have some trouble with Shi. He seems like the kind of guy who doesn't listen to anyone else's opinion except his own."

I refrained from pointing out how close Akashi was to describing himself, as that would most likely be the last thing I ever said. Instead, I offered my shoulder to support his body.

"It's fine," Akashi said, stepping out of the door. "Head injuries are old friends of us basketball players, aren't they?"

Before I could answer, a terrible scream tore through the air. The day's events must've made me even more on edge that usual, because my heart rate accelerated to an abnormal rate and I could feel the quick pulses in my throat, blood pumping in my ears. It took me a few seconds to register the scream and so I was a several paces behind Akashi as we took off running towards the source of the scream. It didn't immediately click in my head as to why this scream was so urgent to me. It was totally foreign and out of place and yet...

...I felt like I'd heard it before.

"What the hell is happening today?" Akashi yelled. I didn't know what he was expecting me to respond with; I was just as, if not more, confused as he was. I figured that my head couldn't get more screwed with, once Akashi started asking me questions and actually expected answers. We past another hallway and in my peripheral vision I caught a flash of red. It pooled on the floor and surrounded a small body. I grabbed the collar of Akashi's shirt and nearly dragged him down; my body had gone strangely limp.

"Kuroko?!"

The light blue locks of hair twitched slightly, the ends matted with wet blood. A large blue eye blearily gazed directly at me and it was my friend, my shadow, who lay on the ground dying. I felt Akashi's body tense and begin to shake. Or maybe it was my own.

"Ka-gami...kun-"

"You insignificant human!" I became aware of a second figure kneeling next to Kuroko whose presence I hadn't noticed before. Shi Karito had a crazy atmosphere about him, his pupils undilated to such an extent he appeared to have no pupils at all. In his left hand there was a saber that he thrust repeatedly into Kuroko's chest, making the blood splatter further. "Die! Die, already! Let go of the damn Shadow-!"

No...

 _No..._

"Get away from him, you insane bastard!" I screamed savagely. My body moved automatically. I smashed the sole of my shoe into the side of Shi's body, sending the man flying. Breathing heavily, I knelt down by Kuroko, trying to keep my eyes away from the blood pouring...

pouring...

the blue had seemed

to have disappeared...

"Ohmygoshohmygosh," I moaned, brushing aside hair that was falling over Kuroko's eyes as Akashi rejoined me and I heard his breathing become shallow and irregular. The normally sharp and bright blue irises were dull and could barely focus on me. I inhaled deeply and allowed myself a quick glance at how much damage there was to his body. I caught a glimpse of a pair of sneakers not lying to far away, blood drenching even the leather and fabric of the shoe. Then I saw the stumps that used to be Kuroko's feet and refused the realization of what was in those sneakers. "What the hell...? Your feet, Kuroko..."

"You're not dying," Akashi muttered, a note of hysteria in his voice. "You're not dying...you're going to be okay, Kuroko..."

Kuroko shifted slightly, his eyes moving slightly to focus on something behind us. His lips trembled in the effort to make words.

"Be...hind-you..."

I felt the wind swiftly knocked out of me as I was kicked out of the way, the impact of the hit and fall making my bones rattle. Another body landed on top of me, nearly making me fall unconscious. My vision swam as Akashi crawled off of me and I had trouble focusing on Shi. Now that I was on his other side, I saw for the first time the bloody hole that used to be his shoulder and arm. Had Kuroko done that?

"I will kill you..." Shi breathed insanely, swaying deliriously. The fingers of his still intact hand twitched greedily. "I will...kill you...And no one...will get in my way..." Awkwardly, he used his left hand to point down at us, the finger trembling so much it seemed to blur. "I'll kill anyone...who does...even them, your _lights..._ "

Kill us? I struggled to my feet, and stood on edge, ready to fight or flee. Shi made a movement as to advance on Kuroko's limp form and everything in my head switched off until pure animal instinct kicked in. I would fight and keep Kuroko safe and alive, however long that would be. Kuroko Tetsuya was...

 **"Kill my friends...?"**

* * *

A chill ran through my body and a sense of staggering foreboding suffocated me. A streak of inky black slashed across my field of vision, colliding with Shi's thin figure. A smear of black and white wrestled on the floor, leaving wisps of white and black to dissolve in the air.

"Move!" Akashi yelled and pushed me flat against the wall. Not a second later, the white figure shot us so close the white seemed to pass through my skin. The white figure stood at the end of the corridor, the man Shi no longer in sight. The white figure held a vague outline of what had been the man's body but the features of the man's face were gone. A blank expanse of white replaced what had been Shi's face.

 **"Stay away from them!"** And I finally took in the black figure. It was Kuroko, or more Kuroko than the white figure was Shi, if that's what they were. A sort of black fire surrounded and rose off of Kuroko's body, giving his skin a greyish tinge. His eyes appeared to glow a dangerous electric blue, absolutely more terrifying than the soft sky blue they were normally colored. A shock went through me as my eyes strayed down and found Kuroko hovering several inches above the ground, as there were no longer any feet to support him. The hole that pierced his chest was closing itself up, flesh and sinew flying across the wound until the pale chest had no blemish. Then why...?

 **"Yes!"** the white figure shrieked. **"Yes, yes, yes! Come at me like you hate me! Come at me like you want to kill me! Come at me like your pathetic friends' lives depend on it!"** The hand of the figure shot out and closed in a fist. It was like someone had drenched me in gasoline, stuffed a gag in my mouth, and threw a lit match at my feet. Burning pain closed around my limbs and squeezed tears out of my eyes. I couldn't breathe. **"Because their lives do depend on it-"**

 **"LET. GO."**

As quickly as it had began, the pain ceased and I slammed to the floor, breathing heavily and trying to regain control of my spazzing muscles. Kuroko slammed the white figure into the end of the corridor, smashing his knee repeatedly into the figure's stomach.

 **"DON'T. TOUCH. THEM!"**

Kuroko drew back a fist and punched the wall where the figure's head would have been, had it not dodged in the one second. An explosion shook the ground and I barely had time to throw myself against the wall as to not fall over. I threw my arms over my head to protect my face from the barrage of flying dust and plaster debris. A faint ringing sound remained in my ears as the dust settled down. Where the corridor had ended, a huge gaping hole had been shattered in. Akashi appeared at my shoulder, his mouth moving frantically. I must've gone temporarily deaf with the explosion, so I shook my head to show I couldn't hear. Akashi frowned and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the hole.

 **"YOU. WILL. NOT..."** Even though my hearing had waned, I could still hear Kuroko's screams; his voice had reached such a volume, I was pretty sure people on the other side of Tokyo would be able to hear him. Kuroko had flown to an immeasurable height, a wave of wind shaking the buildings on their foundations. He punctuated every blow with another punch, another blast of wind. **"HURT. MY. FRIENDS!"**

The blurry black figure that was Kuroko threw the white figure to the ground and this time, the force threw me off my feet. With one last effort, I stood up and moved outside. I wasn't the only one; other people had heard the noise and were currently stepping outside to look upon a huge crater that used to be InterHigh Stadium plaza. An eerie silence swept across the plaza, broken as officials came racing over, stepping cautiously into the crater.

Someone tapped my shoulder. Akashi jerked his chin towards the crater and I followed him over, bracing myself for the worst. Shi's body was back, his one remaining arm bent at an unnatural angle.

"Is he...dead?" I asked the nearest official tentatively. He nodded and shrugged me aside. Pure shock paralyzed me as I stared down at Shi. In the few minutes I had known the man even existed, I'd hated him for taking my friend away. And now, my friend had taken the man's life.

"Kuroko?!"

But he didn't lay there next to Shi. There was no body for me to confirm dead or alive. He had disappeared, leaving me in the middle of the mess with the man he had killed...

...gone like a shadow.

* * *

 **Yoi! This is more of a link chapter, so there wasn't a TON of action, sorry to those who were waiting for any action, I was trying to get this out before the fourth. And for you very thorough readers, I didn't forget about Aomine and Momoi. They were left out of the second half for a reason, don't worry!**

 **Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!**

 **-Joy Goldenpine**


	4. Chapter 4

**I know it's a been a while since I've updated but...well, I have no excuse. I've just been lazy and updating other stories. (Please go check out Secrets Unheard that's my pride and joy at the moment)**

 **Hopefully, I'll be quicker next time.**

 **But we all know how that goes.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _My heart jumped to my throat as I watched a small ghostly boy jump at two boys about three times his height and weight, yet I almost cowed; the tiny boy was simply radiating danger. Tiny hands wrapped around one boy's throat and blood spurted everywhere as he snapped the neck with a swift upturn of his arms. I was horrified; I wanted to scream but no sound came out. If my limbs didn't feel like they were made of lead, I would've reached out and restrained the boy. Helpless, I merely looked on as the corpse of the first boy dropped to the ground._

 _Realizing the danger in the situation, the second boy began to run away, screaming his head off. But all for naught as the tiny monster launched himself at his legs and with a sickening crunch, they slammed to the ground the screams suddenly cut off. The murderous boy glared over his shoulders for any onlookers and he caught my eyes. His eyes were dilated so much the icy blue of his irises were almost obscured completely._

 _Eyes that were exactly identical to mine._

"Noo...!"

 _Tetsuya?_

I snapped up, fully awake and immediately my head started swimming, black dots forming at the edges of my vision. Reaching out for something to lean on, my hand scraped a dirty stone wall. Gently, I let myself lean against it, careful not to let my bare skin get scratched by the jagged texture of the wall. Vague memories were slowly coming back; encountering Shi; Shi becoming the Light; Shi trying to kill me; my friends coming...Was I dead? What had happened?

 _Tetsuya..._

Sudden vile burned my throat, but it didn't go down properly. I coughed uncontrollably as the memories sharpened with frightening clarity, coming from a seemingly different world: a man with white hair; a blindingly bright figure; an alienated sort of rage; blood spurting from my chest...from my feet...

"My feet!" I gasped and felt for the bottoms of my legs. Stumps of muscle and bone extended where my leg ended, steam rising off from the open flesh. "Shit... _shit..._ "

 _Tetsuya, calm down,_ the Shadow muttered to me. _I'm trying to regenerate your lost limbs, but I can't do it all at once. Your body wouldn't be able to handle it._

"Yeah, okay," I moaned, stretching out my legs painfully. Panic had flared so intensely that my body was shaking with adrenaline. Another memory came in: a long thin familiar saber. Hesitantly, I felt my chest and found a large rough spot on my chest. Dried blood crumbled off the closed wound and into my hands. "I thought I was dead for sure," I muttered as I watched the dark brown flakes scatter across my hand.

 _Very nearly,_ the Shadow said. _Seems like he can hurt you so long as he's possessing a human. I guess it's a bit of a relief, since he can't touch you without a vessel to possess, like that man Shi._

"Shi..." I breathed, the satisfying sensation of driving his throat against the pavement was too disgustingly welcome in my fingers. Through clouds of amnesia, I saw the old man's broken form in the center of the huge broken crater. "Is he dead?"

 _Most likely. Although, I would like to believe that Shi was already dead before the Light got to him. I don't remember seeing that man when we played against Kirisaki Daiichi. He was being used like a puppet, if that paints a better picture for you._

"What a gruesome puppet," I said wearily. I looked around for the first time since my awakening and found myself sitting in the alley way between two buildings. Neither building had any windows for people to look out of and see a disheveled basketball player with two of his limbs missing. I cocked my head upward painfully and saw an inky black sky, lit up by the occasional feeble star. To the side, cars raced by on the street outside the alley way, sending my surrounding into relief. "How did we get here?"

 _You lost control for a little bit. I thought it would be best to take to the shadows and hide from the human authorities. What we really don't need right now are those annoying people hunting us._

Hardly aware of what I was doing, I nodded even though there was no physical entity to agree with. So I had let go of my control, something I had been keeping for over sixteen years; granted that one time...The Shadow's power this time had been overwhelming, more overwhelming than I had expected. Almost like going against the Kiseki no Sedai for the first time, but worse and with worse consequences. My body was hurt, I was tired...and my friends...

"Kagami-kun! Akashi-kun!" I almost screamed, terror shaking my body; sudden rushes of emotion were rather foreign and had a terrible effect on my body. What had happened to them after I left? They'd been kicked to the ground, and were found at the scene of my fight, next to a dead man. The authorities were probably all over them, and they had nothing to do with what I had done. I was half in the motion of jumping up when I remembered I had no feet to jump onto.

 _Tetsuya, calm down!_

"My friends," I moaned, glaring down at my stumps. "What if they're in danger? What if-?"

 _Calm down, Tetsuya. If you're to find your friends, I need to regenerate your feet._

"You can do that thing, right?" I gasped as I moved toward the street on my butt. "Where you transport using the shadows?"

 _In order to use that, I need to have some sort of control over your body. If I do that now, you will surely die. You are no use to your friends dead._

"Well, shit." I exhaled slowly and mentally relaxed myself. No cursing. I cursed when I was emotionally fired up and the more fired up I was, the more liable the Shadow was to take over my body, and thus I was more liable to die. And it was true: what use was I to my friends as a corpse? "Well, is there any possible way to speed up the regeneration process?"

 _...I could just focus on one foot, if you're comfortable with hopping on one foot._

"Anything," I said, looking out onto the street. I recognized some of the buildings; Kagami-kun's place wasn't too far from here. "I can hop if I need to."

 _I believe you can do anything if you really wanted to, Tetsuya._

I blocked the Shadow's sarcasm out and looked down at my stumps. The left one stopped steaming and the right one began to steam two-fold. It was barely visible, but as I stared at the sinews surrounding the bone, I was pretty sure I could see the stump end in a heel and turn outwards for a foot. For what seemed like an eternity later, I could wiggle toes at the end of a extremely pale foot, but as I got to my feet, it supported weight so long as I leaned on a building.

 _Try to conserve energy, you are very weak._

I nodded and hopped forward, shaking the fabric of my pant leg down to cover the ugly stump that was my left foot. I turned onto the street, keeping a steady pulse in my head: _hop, lean, hop, lean, hop, lean..._

For what wasn't the first time I was glad for my lack of presence; for the most part, I was able to walk by pedestrians without attracting attention. When I bumped into someone, which was too often for comfort, they glared at me and wondered at my strange appearance but kept walking on. Coming up on a crosswalk, I wobbled dangerously and leaned on the pole for support, looking around for anything suspicious; ironically, I was probably the most suspicious thing on the street.

 _Tetsuya, something just occurred to me._

"Yeah?"

 _Don't you think the authorities would be on high alert for us?_

This revelation took a second to sink in. My heart rate accelerated and I whipped my head around to be greeted by police officers.

 _Of course._

 ** _BAM!_**

* * *

I decided to choose several curse words to scream, even though no one would hear me.

 _"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!"_

A bullet shot through Tetsuya's lower abdomen, piercing his stomach and going clean through his lower spine. Tetsuya dropped to the ground as ear-splitting siren wails filled the air. This had been the one thing I should've figured out before, but hadn't even begun to consider. Of course, _of course,_ it looked like we had killed Shi. Tetsuya was a suspect, being hunted down for murder. At least, at the very least he should've covered his face.

But for now, I needed a memory. I needed to take over Tetsuya's body so I could heal the bullet wound slowly draining blood from his stomach. Shit, and I had just covered up his chest wound and regenerated a whole new limb.

 _Memory, memory..._

 _"You are merely the prototype. The outdated model has been replaced by a second, new phantom sixth man."_

It worked almost too well. Emotion flooded Tetsuya's consciousness and I subdued him. Now I controlled even Tetsuya's mouth and eyes, swiveling his eyesight upwards and towards the police officer standing above us with a gun pointed at us.

"What the hell did you guys do?!" the adult barked, nudging Tetsuya's face with the toe of his shoe. His foot smelled disgusting. If only Tetsuya's body had been capable of doing it I would've snapped the foot off it's leg. "He's wanted alive, not dead! You heard those high schoolers, they'll kill us before the higher ups can."

"Are you seriously afraid of a bunch of teenagers?" the man's accomplice snorted. "I don't care what the redhead says. This guy killed the man, I'm sure of it. And anyway, look. He's blinking. Ugh, those eyes creep me out, they're so black."

"You're lucky he's still alive," the first human snapped, although it was clear he was relieved. "I'll call the station. We'll need a car for this mess. Wow, he's even missing a foot."

 _Wh-What happened?_

 _We were shot,_ I muttered, happy at the sound of Tetsuya's voice in his head. It was an indefinitely good thing I was in control now, but if I had too control of Tetsuya's body for too long the little consciousness he possessed would cease to exist completely. _I'm sorry Tetsuya. I should have forseen this._

 _What's happening now?_

I swiveled Tetsuya's eyes as far back as they would go. Pedestrians were starting to gather around us and on the street cars were pulling to a stop to ogle at the crowd, police officers trying to keep them back. I considered for a moment what had to be going on outside of what we knew. Obviously, Tetsuya was convicted of killing Shi. If so, did the people around us view Tetsuya...as a killer?!

In the distance, I could see one of those infernal machines driving closer, red and blue lights flashing on the top. I was surprised at the speed of the humans; of course, they could do anything once their safety was brought into question. I felt the wound in Tetsuya's close over with a thin layer of flesh but I could also feel the tear in his stomach. Were the humans seriously going to try and move Tetsuya in the state he was in? The wound was fatal without me!

Then Tetsuya's hand moved without my thought; Tetsuya must have calmed down enough to regain consciousness over his hand. After a few moments, the police car screeched to a stop and out stepped another police officer. Tetsuya's fingers wrapped around his leg as he drew close and he was sent flying into the crowd. A heated argument struck up among the humans.

 _You need time?_

I cast around for a human phrase and landed on, 'I'm so happy I could just kiss you!'. I focused on the little hole in Tetsuya's body as a second officer stepped out of the car, glaring down at Tetsuya with unmistakable disdain. Using his foot, he moved Tetsuya's face toward him. Holy shit that was disgusting.

"I thought he was dead there for a second," he snorted. "What a mess of a person. This is the suspect? Get him in the car."

 _Dammit!_

The other three adults scruffled about for a moment before harsh hands grabbed Tetsuya's body, not taking heed to the wound in his stomach. Tetsuya's attempt at a diversion had proved useless. Blood started to pour from the wound again and with it Tetsuya's consciousness. Heavy metal handcuffs were produced and slapped around Tetsuya's wrists, the metal digging into this skin.

 _What are they going to do?_

"So how're you feeling?" the most dominant of the four humans said with an edge of malice. "You weren't thinking straight were you, when you killed that man? Didn't you remember about all those friends you have back at the station? Hope you know they're worried sick about you, although how they still think you're innocent is beyond me. You killed that man..." Even though he was in the driver seat and the car was already moving, I could feel his eyes on Tetsuya. "You monster."

I had no time to respond, not with the ugly wound open again. Even if I all I wanted was to lay waste to these police officers, these 'heroes of justice', Tetsuya came first.

"Basketball player, pretty good one too, from what I hear from those friends of yours," the man went on, turning the car so sharply that Tetsuya and the other two in the back seat of the car went flying. Luckily, the wound wasn't touched. "What made you do it? Ah, never mind," the man sighed, shaking his head. "I'll never understand you monsters. How you can just... _take people's lives_ like it's nothing."

For whatever reason, the bullet wound started throbbing like crazy. It didn't seem like it was healing anymore. Why? I didn't remember stopping the healing process. Then I realized I was almost at my boiling point. And like Tetsuya, emotion prompted uncontrollable fits of power.

 _Stay calm, don't get angry. That's what you always tell me to do._

 _Are you enjoying this, Tetsuya?_

 _I'm not enjoying dying, no._

I glanced down at the police officer's belt and saw the gun poking out of his belt. An idea started to form. It was too easy; I could grab the gun, shoot the four officers before they knew what hit them and get out. Bending down, I tried to draw attention to Tetsuya's upper body as I used his hand to get close to the gun.

 _What are you doing? We don't have a second foot._

Starting, I remembered the stump of a foot Tetsuya still had. Which injury came first? The foot of the bullet wound? If I healed the foot first there wouldn't be enough time to grab the gun and escape before coming too close to the police station. But the bullet wound was the immediate threat to Tetsuya's life.

I allowed myself another human curse word.

The skin just stretched over the wound as the car pulled up to the front of the station, siren toning down. Dejectedly, I let the adults grab Tetsuya's body and haul him in the building. There would be other opportunities to escape. I just had to let myself believe that. For Tetsuya's sake.

... _For Tetsuya's sake?_

We were dragged down a dimly lit hall lined with closed doors, an eeriness stealing over me. Humans didn't scare me, not in the slightest. So why did I feel so uneasy inside this human establishment? At the end of the hall, the police officers opened one of the doors and brought us in, seating us roughly in a cold metal chair. One of the adults uncuffed Tetsuya's right hand and attached the cuff to the table which, after I looked closer, was bolted to the floor. He quickly stepped back, afraid of the now free hand.

 _Don't we get a katsudon?_

"Don't we get a katsudon?" I asked, looking around blearily at the police officers.

 _Why did you say that?!_

"I guess you don't appreciate the severity of your situation," the man I had marked as the most dominant sighed, shaking his head like we had failed him in some way. He waved his hand and the three other officers left the room, leaving us with the man and his fierce gaze. "I really wonder what's going on inside that head of yours."

Right now Tetsuya's conscious was growing stronger and yelling at me for making such a snarky comment, exactly what I had been aiming for by saying that silly sentence. I refocused on the foot, feeling the bone reform from the stump. When the foot had regrown, I would let Tetsuya take over and guide him out of here. We would have to run away, to put bluntly. We couldn't stay where we were now under the constant threat of the Light.

"How to crack you," the police officer was saying, sitting down across from us, resting his chin on interlocking fingers and observing us like a particularly tasty meal he couldn't wait to devour. I couldn't help but feel uneasy around him. If not for the handcuff and the fact overexerting Tetsuya's body at this point would probably kill him, I would've strangled the officer just to get that uneasiness out of the room. "Could we get you morally? By telling you that a man is dead because of your actions? Or emotionally, by telling you how much grief you are causing that man's family right now?"

There was a knock at the door and one of the other police officers poked his head through the doorway.

"I brought them, like you instructed."

"Thank you," the man said without looking at the other, smiling grimly at us. "Come on in, you two."

I didn't bother looking around, too focused on regrowing the foot. I heard the police officer get up and two people sit down in his place; I wondered what the quickest way out of the police station would be. A few moments passed, tension thick in the air, and the heel had grown in.

"Kuroko, please. Why won't you look up?"

Fuck. _Fuck._

I knew that voice. I hated that voice.

Akashi Seijuro.

I whipped Tetsuya's head up and stared with disbelief at the two redhead humans Tetsuya held so dear. Akashi Seijuro's short hair was matted down with sweat and his eyes, those infernal eyes that had cause Tetsuya so much pain, were dark with fatigue and grim determination. Next to him was Kagami Taiga. I didn't harbor as much hatred for him as the others, he had treated Tetsuya better than the rest. He refused to make eye contact with us, staring at some point between Tetsuya's eyes.

Why were _they_ here?

* * *

 **Uh oh, what happened here? Well, I mean, duh Kagami and Akashi were brought in.**

 **I'm actually starting to confuse myself with what pronouns the Shadow should use when referring to him and Kuroko. I'm so dead mentally.**

 **Lol until next time!**

 **-Joy Goldenpine**


End file.
